returns on horizontals & verticals in pb, page-10

I've just been doing a tracing of Laredo's and Pioneers drilling history over the last couple of years. I have used the RRC site and a couple of others.Now I'm not sure if this is coincidental or I am just daydreaming but,it seems Laredo are heading further south and Pioneer further north and that will place them pretty much in our area ??

I've posted here a couple of maps which show's us the historical workings of the area and how the last 10 years or so,it shows how our area in the NE corner of Reagan county is becoming much busier. Why ??

You can see in the 70's that the major oiler's really picked up the pace with the technology of the day in Reagan county.Then as the 80's come along with the improvements in technology the independants started to take over.Come forward to now,the independants have really taken a hold as the horizontal and fracking tech has leapfrogged anything they had or produced in the past.

I have gone back and looked at both coy's last page of applications.GGP has 8 at this stage and all of them are between 17 - 19 miles N NE of Big Lake, remembering that our acres are pretty special as we are covered by the Wolfcamp and Cline stratigraphy.

Pioneer - 13 applications.

7 are Verticals

6 are Horizontals

the furtherest away from Biglake is 22 miles and the closest is 5.1 miles.90% + are N of Biglake


Laredo - 15 applications.

11 are Verticals

4 are Horizontals

the furtherest away from Biglake is 31 miles and the closest is 19 miles.95% + are N of Biglake

So GGP being in the south of the play,are in an area where todays tech hasn't really been used a whole lot.So what do Laredo,Pioneer,EOG ( just east of us in Irion county ) see in our area ? Does all this tie in with our surprisingly good production numbers ?? Are we really in a sweet spot ??

Like I said,I may well be seeing something that's not really there ?? but if you take a look at Laredo's and Pioneers drill applications on the RRC site,they are definitely changing tact.

So what does this all mean ?? May well be zip but,at the very least,it's nice to know that coy's much bigger than GGP and with a lot more experience feels the need to head in the direction of GGP's holdings.

Cheers




Here's an article which is a couple weeks old but still relevant to this post.


Permian key part of Laredo Petroleum's strategy



Posted: Friday, February 24, 2012 11:15 am


Tulsa's Laredo Petroleum sees the Permian Basin as a big part of its corporate strategy. It has been, said Jerry Schuyler, president and chief operating officer, since the company was founded in 2006.

It dates back, Schuyler said, to founder Randy Foutch's previous company, Latigo Petroleum.




"The Permian Basin has always been a part of our strategy and we believe it will get better with advances in fracturing and technology," he said. "It's very interesting in the Permian Basin -- it's such a complex basin and exploration is multilayered. The level of activity will be strong for decades."

The company, he said, has about 6,000 total drilling locations, 5,700 of which are in its Permian Basin asset base. "That's a feel for how important the Permian Basin is to us," he said. In fact, he added, Laredo's success in the Permian Basin was a driver in taking the company public this past December.

Laredo has been expanding its horizontal activity over the last couple of years, he reported, drilling horizontally in the Wolfcamp and Cline. A majority of the rigs are in Glasscock County with a third of its rigs running at the end of 2011 drilling horizontal wells.

Mark Elliott, head of Laredo's Midland office and vice president, exploration and land, Permian, reported the Midland office, opened in 2008, now has 45 in its field and division office, with plans to fill an additional 20 positions. Currently, Elliott said, Laredo has 135,000 net acres in Glasscock, Reagan, Sterling and Howard counties.

Schuyler said the company is horizontally drilling shales just underneath the Wolfcamp and already has drilled 20 horizontal wells in the Cline and is excited about what was found. Approximately 80 percent of Laredo's $560 million budget is slotted for the Permian Basin in 2012.

Laredo, he said, is continually searching for additional acreage to exploit.

"The hurdle is," he said, "it has to be better than what we already have."